UEFA Nations League
Scotland 2-1 Republic of Ireland
Saturday, 24 September 2022
Hampden Park, Glasgow

Scorers

Scotland 2 (Jack Hendry 50’, Ryan Christie 82’)

Republic of Ireland 1 (John Egan 18’)

Team News

There were two changes to the starting eleven that started against Ukraine just three days prior. Double goalscorer Lyndon Dykes started in place of Ché Adams, while Aaron Hickey replaced Nathan Patterson with the Everton defender was forced to withdraw from the squad following the injury he suffered against Ukraine.

With Patterson and David Turnbull both withdrawing from the squad, Josh Doig and Declan Gallagher both received call ups. Josh Doig came into the squad fresh from captaining the Under 21s in an impressive 3-1 win over Northern Ireland in Belfast on Thursday.

John McGinn retained the captain's armband on the night that marked his 50th cap for Scotland which sees him join the Roll of Honour.

As It Happened

In a packed out Hampden Park, with an attendance of 48,853, the national anthems of both sides got proceedings underway for an entertaining night under the lights.

The Republic of Ireland thought they had the opener after ten minutes when Troy Parrott had the ball in the back of the net following a long run he had made however it was disallowed as the attacker was offside when he began his run. In the 18th minute, John Egan opened the scoring following a corner which gave the visitors a one goal lead going into half time.

Scotland had the perfect start to the second half as they equalised after four minutes. Ryan Christie dribbled into the box and dinked the ball into the centre where Jack Hendry met it and headed into the bottom right corner; his first competitive goal for Scotland.

Five minutes after Scotland scored their equaliser, Craig Gordon was called into action at the other end of the pitch. Troy Parrott was one-on-one with the Scotland stopper but he kept his composure to come out and deny the Republic of Ireland attackers effort.

Substitute Ryan Fraser came close to making a big impact in the 68th minute when he made his way into the box and released a powerful strike towards goal but his effort was denied by a great save from Gavin Bazunu.

In the 82nd minute, Scotland were awarded a penalty following a handball in the box from Alan Browne. Ryan Christie stepped up to take the penalty and converted; rolling the ball into the bottom right corner to give Scotland the lead late in the game.

A fighting performance and victory from Scotland sees them go into the game against Ukraine on Tuesday as group leaders for the final UEFA Nations League group game.

Next Up

The Scots travel to Poland for their final UEFA Nations League group game on Tuesday 27 September.

Teams

Scotland: Gordon, McTominay, Tierney (Taylor 41’), McGinn, McGregor, Dykes (Adams 84’), Christie (McLean 84’), Hendry, McKenna, Armstrong (Fraser 58’), Hickey (Ralston 58’)

Unused Substitutes: Kelly, McCrorie, Gallagher, Porteous, Gilmour, Doig, Jack

Republic of Ireland: Bazunu, Doherty (Coleman 75’), Egan, Cullen, Obafemi (Ogbene 60’), Parrott (Robinson 75’), McClean (Brady 82’), Collins, Molumby (Browne 75’), Knight, O’Shea

Unused Substitutes: Travers, O’Leary, Duffy, Hourihane, Hendrick, Hogan, O’Dowda